Lifeline
by Pir8grl
Summary: Another take on a tag scene to The Name of the Doctor. (I thought I was done...but the last bit got fairly intense, so I thought it needed just a touch of fluff to balance things out. Enjoy!)
1. Chapter 1

_**"Where am I?"**_

A terror-filled wail, echoing through the twisted labyrinth of the Dalek asylum.

_**"I don't know where I am!"**_

A heartbroken whimper, heard only by himself, in the depths of his own time stream.

* * *

Clara blinked in the bright sunlight that shone in through the windows. She glanced in confusion at the beautifully appointed Victorian room she occupied, and the soft, lace-trimmed cotton nightdress she was wearing. She wondered for a moment just what had woken her, then felt another bone crushing tug on her hand.

The Doctor was sprawled in a chair pulled close against her bedside, obviously in the grip of a nightmare. Perspiration dotted his face and tears leaked from the corners of his eyes. The hand that was wrapped around her own convulsed periodically with ferocious strength.

"Doctor! Wake up - you're dreaming!" She rolled on her side, reaching out to shake his shoulder with her free hand. "Come on, it's just a bad dream, you need to wake up now. Doctor, please - you're hurting me!"

At that, his eyes snapped open. "Clara!"

"I'm here," she said simply.

The Doctor looked down at their hands, and promptly loosened his grip, flushing with shame as he saw how swollen and red her fingers were. "Clara, I am so, so sorry. Please forgive me."

"Nothing to forgive. You were having one hell of a nightmare. Want to talk about it?"

He scrubbed his hands over his face, surprised to feel tears on his cheeks. "You were lost, all alone in the darkness, crying out to me to save you…and I couldn't find you…"

"I'm right here," she assured him. Clara sat up against the headboard of her bed, and patted the space beside her. "C'mere."

The Doctor sat down beside her, and Clara slipped into his arms, or he slipped into hers - neither was sure which, and really, did it matter? He buried his face against the pulse point of her neck, needing to feel the steady, strong beating of her heart. "You're safe," he whispered.

"And so are you. And we're together," Clara murmured soothingly, resting her cheek on top of his head and stroking her fingers through his unruly mop of hair. "But Doctor…I need to know…where are we? When are we? And…which me is this?" Her voice trembled a bit on the last question, and instantly their roles were reversed.

He sat up and cradled her face in his palm. "Clara, I'm sorry…again…I should have realized this would be disorienting, but we needed a place to rest, and I wanted to have access to Strax's medical equipment and data. We're in Vastra's house, London, 1893. And you…well, you're **_you_**. Really, really you."

"How'd you know?"

"Here." He gently took her hands and held them out in front of her. "Your jewelry. See? It's what you had on when I picked you up at the Maitland's, April 10, 2013."

"You're sure?"

"Clara, I haven't let go of you since I found you in my time stream."

Clara blushed, and an incredibly soft smile graced her lips for a moment. And then her forehead crinkled in suspicion. "How'd you fly the TARDIS?"

"I, er...well…she can be remarkably cooperative when she wants to!"

Jenny laughed merrily as she entered with a tea tray. "What he means to say, Miss, is that he told me and Madame what buttons to push! Wouldn't let go of you for the entire trip."

Clara's expression softened for a moment, then she frowned, plucking at the sleeve of her nightgown. "Doctor. This_** isn't**_what I was wearing earlier today."

He blushed furiously and began to splutter incoherently.

Jenny smirked. "It's all right, Miss. I changed your clothes for you. Made him wait out in the hall like a right proper gentleman."

"So you did let go of me!"

"For five minutes, Clara! **_Five minutes_**, and we were safe, and it was hardly appropriate -"

Jenny managed to stifle her giggles enough to form a coherent sentence. "Clara. I weren't gonna let nothing happen to you. You saved me, too, remember?"

"Right then," the Doctor said briskly, obviously eager to change the topic of conversation. "What have you got on that very interesting tray?"

"Tea, and some proper breakfast, but I thought you might fancy this, Miss," Jenny answered, passing Clara a thick slice of chocolate cake.


	2. Chapter 2

Some tea and breakfast later - Clara had pointedly refused to share her cake - the Doctor felt himself beginning to doze again. He didn't normally need much sleep, but then he didn't normally die a few hundred times in one day, so he figured he was entitled.

"Doctor?" Clara asked, in a tone that warned the Doctor that he'd be postponing his nap.

"Yes, Clara?"

"That other man that we saw in your time stream…"

The Doctor sighed heavily. "Clara, that man is a part of my life that's dead and gone. Can we just leave it at that?"

She pushed away from him and sat up straight. "After today, do you really think you can still have secrets from me?"

"Some secrets keep us safe."

"This is what Emma warned me about, isn't it?"

"Clara, I truly have no idea what you're talking about."

"You," Clara said, tears beginning to trickle from her eyes. "She said…she said it was good that we weren't…together. She said I shouldn't trust you…that there was a sliver of ice in your heart. That other man, the one you said was you, but wasn't the Doctor - that's what she meant, isn't it? **_Isn't it_**?"

The Doctor reached out and gently laid his hand on her back. Clara flinched violently away from his touch. He let his hand drop back to his side.

"Clara…I don't think there are any two people in the universe who are more 'together' than we are right now. And if you didn't trust me, I wouldn't have been able to save you today."

"Then why don't you trust **_me_**?"

"That man that you saw is the reason why I don't have a home or a family anymore. And he is **_me_**! Can you even begin to comprehend what it feels like to carry that around inside you?"

"No," Clara whispered. "But I risked everything for you, more times than I can count. Why can't you meet me halfway?"

"Clara…he is the part of me that thought that wiping two races from the face of the universe to end a war was…acceptable."

Clara shivered, and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to reconcile the idea of a man who could do such a thing with the madcap, overgrown boy who'd asked her to travel with him. The man who'd faced down a god to save a little girl. "Was there another way?"

"I don't know. It didn't seem like it at the time. I was so alone…so lost…and I couldn't see any other way out…" His voice choked off into harsh sobs, and the sound broke her heart.

She moved back to him, cradling his face in her hands. "Doctor, you're not alone anymore. And if you get lost again, I'll find you. I'll always find you." Impulsively, she leaned in and brushed her lips against his. She pulled away slightly, and looked up at him expectantly.

"Clara Oswald," he said fondly, "My Clara. I think we'd find each other. We seem to be making rather a habit of that lately."

"And by 'lately' you mean over a thousand years."

"Miss Oswald, you are remarkably well preserved for a thousand year old human," the Doctor teased.

Clara smacked him lightly on the arm. "Hey! How'd you stay alive for so long without learning that you do **_not _**tease a woman about her age?"

He chuckled softly, and pulled her in close to him. "I'll have to try and remember that."

"See that you do, mister."

"So…when you've had a bit more rest, and that ankle of your has had a chance to heal, where would you like to go?"

Clara's voice was slurred as she slipped back towards sleep, a combination of pain, and emotion, and sheer exhaustion. "Part of me just wants to go home and hug Angie and Artie for about a week."

"I understand," the Doctor said carefully.

"But another part of me is scared to death to let you out of my sight. Just…just take me someplace wonderful."

"Right. Someplace wonderful. I think I can manage that."

It wasn't what he wanted to say. He wanted to say 'Stay with me always,' but he didn't, not yet, maybe never, because her always would never be as long as his, and even though there were more Claras out there, more echoes, they weren't **_this_** Clara, **_his_** Clara. The incredible, impossible woman who'd saved him all those times was curled into his side drowsing, and for one of the very few moments in his life, he was content not to run, just to simply…be.


	3. Chapter 3

The Doctor emerged from the TARDIS, content in the knowledge that his beloved ship was recovered enough to continue their travels. He meandered in the direction of the kitchen, thinking that some tea and biscuits would be just the thing.

Madame Vastra was standing just outside the kitchen door, watching the scene within with a soft, wistful expression. The Doctor stopped beside her, smiling as he glanced inside the room. Clara and Jenny had evidently been baking all morning and were now happily sampling their creations.

"Earth girls and chocolate," he murmured quietly.

"I believe it is a basic tenet of their belief system that there are no ills in the galaxy that cannot be cured by it," Vastra agreed. Both kept their voices low, not wanting to disrupt the scene before them.

"_**Our**_ Earth girls," the Doctor replied, resting a friendly hand on her shoulder.

"Whatever did we do to deserve them?"


End file.
